Saturday, 1 January 2011

Raising Jake by Charles Carillo

Raising Jake begins when Samuel, a fifty-something, burned out tabloid newspaper reporter receives a call in the middle of the day from his son's elite private school. The headmaster would usually call his ex-wife about matters regarding their seventeen year old son, Jake. She is out of town, however, so the fact that the headmaster is calling Samuel must mean it's bad news.

Samuel is shocked to learn the reason for the call is an essay his son wrote that the school did not like. An essay? He had expected something more serious. But Jake won't apologize for what he wrote, he is expelled.

Samuel - who had been fired just an hour before for leaving in the middle of the day before a deadline - takes Jake home for the weekend, since his mother is out of town. The two realize they know nothing about each other, and Jake longs to know about his roots.

The next day, Samuel takes Jake to see where his dad grew up, and the story of Samuel's childhood slowly comes out, as do Jake's dreams, and the mature-beyond-his-years personality and outlook on life Samuel never imagined his son possessed.

The majority of the book takes place over two days, and is very well written with good pacing. Chapters ended in just the right places to keep me reading more, and flashbacks from Samuel's childhood were inserted in a flowing, non-jarring manner. Father and son both gain understanding of each other, themselves, and life, and seem to take on the role of both father and son at various places in the story.

I got this as a free Kindle download from Amazon.com many months ago, but having read it, I believe it is worth buying. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This review was contributed by Jen, who can be found here. Unfortunately Jen is no longer able to contribute to The Last Page full time, however managed to find the time for one last review. Good Luck with everything in the future Jen!